SEP23

1917 - Death of Werner Voss, WWI German fighter ace, friend and rival of the famous Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, Killed by Arthur Rhys-Davids in his Fokker F.I while fighting against 6 S.E.5s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Voss#Death - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/voss.php

1917 - Death of John Lancashire Barlow , British WWI flying ace, killed in action as he took on 6 enemy aeroplanes, before his plane was forced into a nosedive.

http://www.wivenhoe.gov.uk/History/john_barlow.htm - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/barlow1.php

1921 - Birth of Naoshi Kanno, Japanese WWII fighter ace

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8F%85%E9%87%8E%E7%9B%B4 - http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_kanno_n.php

1921 - Death of Bernard Henri Barny de Romanet, French WWI fighter ace and successful sporting pilot, Killed while practicing for the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe race with the 'Lumière De Monge', French parasol wing racer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Barny_de_Romanet - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/barny.php

http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9906

1923 - 5 competitors of the Gordon Bennett Ballooning Cup were killed when they were struck by lightning while 6 more were injured in storms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bennett_Cup_(ballooning)

1925 - U.S. Navy flew 23 Curtiss CS-1 floatplanes to Bay Shore Park on the Chesapeake Bay, 14 miles SE of Baltimore, Maryland, on a Friday with intention of an air show demonstration before the 1925 Schneider Cup Race on Saturday, but that night gale force winds broke three-inch mooring and anchor ropes on 17 of the biplanes and they were blown onto shore or dashed against seawalls, destroying 7 and damaging 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_CS-1#Operational_history

1925 - Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano, Bolivia Flag carrier airline founded by Guillermo Kyllmann, begins operations using Junkers F.13 aircrafts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_A%C3%A9reo_Boliviano

1928 - 1st flight of The Reid Rambler, later known as Curtiss-Reid, Canadian biplane trainer/sport aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Reid_Rambler

1930 - 1st flight of the Gourdou-Leseurre GL-810 HY (Initial prototype L-2), French 3-seat reconnaissance floatplane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourdou-Leseurre_GL-812_HY - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9309

1931 – A Pitcairn OP-1 autogyro conducts landing and take-off trials aboard the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1). It is the U.S. Navy’s 1st experiment with a shipborne rotary-wing aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_OP#Development

1931 - 1st flight of the USS Akron (ZRS-4), American helium-filled rigid airship designed as a flying aircraft carrier for launching F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters for the US Navy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Akron_(ZRS-4)

1938 - 1st flight of The Supermarine Sea Otter, British amphibian aircraft, longer-range development of the Walrus and last biplane flying boat to be designed by Supermarine, last biplane to enter service with the Royal Navy and the RAF.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Sea_Otter

1940 - Beginning of Operation Menace : The British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal arrives off Dakar, Senegal, with the Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle embarked. She flies off two French Caudron C.270 Luciole trainer aircraft which carry Free French officers ashore to request that Vichy French forces there join de Gaulle on the Allied side, but the Vichy French refuse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dakar#Battle

1941 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel single-handedly german pilot, sinks a Soviet battleship (the Marat) on Kronstadt harbor in the Leningrad area flying a Junkers Ju 87.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel#World_War_II - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_Petropavlovsk_(1914)

1943 - Death of Shizuo Ishii, Japanese 2nd Sino-Japanese War and WWII fighter ace, killed in action in his A6M2 Zero over Viroa, new guinea.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/010_ishii_s.php

1943 - Death of Carlo Negri, Italian WWII pilot, 1st casualty of the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, executed by firing squad by the Germans shortly after his capture.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Negri

1944 - Birth of Loren James Shriver, NASA astronaut, aviator, and USAF test pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Shriver

1945 - Death of Celestino Rosatelli, Italian aeronautics engineer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestino_Rosatelli

1949 - 1st flight of the Boisavia B-601 'Mercurey', French four-seat high-wing braced monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage light aircraft prototype, evolution of the B-60.

http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=8204

1961 - Turkish Airlines flight 835 Fokker F27 Friendship 100 airliner flew into the hill 'Karanliktepe' in Ankara Province on approach to landing at Esenboga Airport, killing 28 over 29.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Turkish_Airlines_Ankara_crash

1961 - Potez Air Fouga, french aircraft company, is completely absorbed into Etablissements Henry Potez SARL.

http://www.aviastar.org/manufacturers/0917.html

1961 - Birth of William Cameron "Willie" McCool, USN test pilot, NASA astronaut and pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107 which disintegrated during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cameron_McCool

1966 - Surveyor, 2nd lunar lander in the unmanned American Surveyor program to explore the Moon, crashed near Copernicus crater.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor_2

1968 - 1st flight of the Indraéro Aéro 30, French single seat, single engined sports biplane prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra%C3%A9ro_A%C3%A9ro_30 - http://aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9871

1972 - Launch of Explorer 47, NASA Magnetosphere satellite to Investigate cislunar radiation, Earth's magnetosphere, interplantary magnetic field. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication.

http://www.astronautix.com/thisday/sepber23.htm

1976 - Soyuz 22, Soviet manned spaceflight is back on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_22

1983 - Death of Hugh Granville 'Child pilot' White , British Royal Flying Corps WWI fighter ace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_White_(aviator) - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/white2.php

1983 - Gulf Air Flight 771 Boeing 737-200 crashed in the desert near Mina Jebel Ali between Abu Dhabi and Dubai after a bomb exploded in the baggage compartment while on approach to Abu Dhabi International Airport, killing all on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Air_Flight_771

1986 - 1st flight of The Piaggio P.180 Avanti, Italian twin-engine turboprop aircraft. The innovative design places the main wing behind and above the canard-like horizontal stabiliser, features a laminar flow fuselage and has engines in pusher configuration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_P.180_Avanti

1986 - Death of Gottfried von Banfield, most successful Austro-Hungarian WWI naval aeroplane pilot, known as the 'Eagle of Trieste'. He may have been the only flying ace who flew a flying boat to five or more victories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Freiherr_von_Banfield - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/austrhun/banfield.php

1993 - A Transair Georgia Tupolev 134A aircraft is struck by mortar or artillery fire from the rebels while Passengers were boarding an aircraft at Sukhumi. It caught fire and burned out, leaving one crew member dead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transair_Georgia_airliner_shootdowns

1999 - Mars Climate Orbiter, NASA robotic space probe, began the planned orbital insertion maneuver. However, due to complications arisen from human error, the spacecraft encountered Mars at a lower than anticipated altitude and disintegrated due to atmospheric stresses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Encounter_with_Mars

1999 - Qantas Flight 1 Boeing 747-438 overran the runway while landing in heavy rain for a stop over in Bangkok with no fatalities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas_Flight_1